Malawi Book Drive - latest news

We’re almost at 2,000 books! 

The last two weeks have been very exciting.  The children from Caerleon School, Newport gave over 200 books and kindly donated their pocket money – an amazing £100 towards the appeal.  A really big thanks to teacher Suzanne Price (previous Book Bus volunteer) and the delightful children – it was a real pleasure to meet them.

We visited The Book Barn, Hallatrow www.bookbarninternational.co.uk which was an extraordinary experience; the UK’s largest second-hand bookshop, wall to ceiling, stacks and stacks and stacks!  The owners have agreed a donation which is going to boost the numbers!  On Wednesday 1st June we’ll be holding a children’s storytelling event from 11 – 12.30 and painting a mural in the Book Barn café in the afternoon.  Join us if you’re near!

The deadline for the shipment is drawing nearer, 1st July.   Any support given will make a difference.  Almost half way and time is ticking. 

I need your help people!  3,000 to go – whoop-whoop!


Diane Maybey

BISEE Book Bus Update

BISEE Book Bus Update, from Jenny Ávila, Volunteer Co-ordinater

The BISEE Book Bus continues working for the improvement of life through stories and fairy tales.  Children really enjoy the visits of the bus to their schools.  In April we had a few days in the Interactive Museum of Sciences.  This involved two Saturdays reading to 150 children and 150 young people.  It was an interesting experience, new to us but we had a good group of enthusiastic volunteers.

During April we also read at SEK School.  We had about 40 children writing their own stories and reading to younger ones of the same school.  They are going to donate these stories to the BISEE Book Bus. 

In May we started to build reading corners in the schools we have worked with in the last 3 months.  The headteachers of the school were very grateful. We also had a young writer who offered to train teachers or the person responsible for the corner, how to use the books and get the best of them. 

Last weekend we had “Maratón del Cuento”  a reading event dedicated to young children. For this event we recreated the BISEE book bus. For the first day we collected a little bit of creative material and children donated their drawings.  The second day our stand became a real reading corner.  We had families reading together and we let the children choose their own stories to read or have someone reading for them.  It was such a wonderful experience and a really good opportunity to let people know about the project.  We had one of the most popular writers of Italy, Anna Lavatelli reading on the bus for a few families that joined us.  It was also very exciting to meet a boy, 7 years old, who visited the bus with his mum. After listening to the stories of the bus and the history of it he told us he wanted to be a volunteer that moment and we gathered a group of families and Erick (his name) read for them.  He is willing to come and volunteer again if we have another time reading in Pichincha.  He also wanted to come with us one of the days to help us with the reading corner.  The weekend was so busy that we had the visit of about 2,000 children and their families. 

Last week writers from different countries got together to share their experiences and we had the chance to have them all on our bus.  They donated their books and were incredibly happy to know that this book bus is present in Ecuador.  We met 2 writers carrying out a similar project.  One was a Spanish writer who has a book bus in the Sahara and we were delighted learn about his project.  He gave us great insights to improve and develop more things about the project. 

In June we will continue the reading in the Museum.  We are also going to have the British embassy doing the reading corner this month together with one of the tour operators of Quito.  We also contacted some skilful children last weekend to join us to make the reading corners together with their families. 

This is so far all what we are doing with the BISEE Book Bus.

Book in every Hand Appeal - update

The books are slowly gathering up in the attic space above the office in Warwick.  It’s amazing to see how a single book given adds to a pile, and each pile then contributes to the target of 5,000 books that we aim to collect for this year’s ‘A Book in Every Hand’ Malawi, appeal.  Whether it is one book or 100 books given, it is making a difference and is symbolic of the individual impact these books will have when we give a book to children in Malawi.

The public response has been very positive, over 1,267 books collected so far.  We’ve received donations from previous volunteers on The Book Bus.  The Federation of Children’s Book Groups gave generously at their annual conference.  The customers of Warwick and Kenilworth Books have been very giving, with owners Frances and Keith and staff supporting the collection.

This week we have written to all schools in Warwick, Leamington and Kenilworth to invite our local school children and school communities to contribute to the collection.  Many thanks to Barfords a local removal firm (www.barfordsremovals.com) who have generously provided over 30 boxes ideal for the packing, DHL are supporting the shipment, so really excellent support.

If you have 1 book or 100 books to donate, I can assure you that it will make a difference.  5,000 books – we can do this!


For further information see our  Book in Every Hand appeal

Diane Maybey
Office Volunteer

BISEE Book Bus at Quito's Interactive Science Museum

BISEE Books and Quito's Interactive Science Museum (MIC) join forces to promote literature and reading in the cityThe BISEE Book Bus was invited to attend as guest of honour at the inauguration of "Quito Lee" at the Interactive Science Museum (MIC) on Saturday 12 March 2011. "Quito Lee" which translates in English as "Quito reads", is a literacy programme aimed at encouraging children to read at least one book a month. The museum is promoting the programme in association with the BISEE Book Bus which will be parked on the museum site every Saturday to encourage children and families to climb aboard and enjoy reading our fantastic selection of children's story books.

Rainy Season in Zambia & Roll on April 30th!!

Life carries on much the same in Zambia during rainy season, the only differences are: the roads are much worse, people are even later for things than usual and they have a new excuse “the rains”,and the landscape is completely transformed. Everything bursts to life, the bush is every imaginable shade of green, and people are growing maize on every available spot of land. If you have only visited in the dry season when everything is brown and brittle you would be amazed at the difference. It is hard to believe it’s the same place, the road to the falls is unrecognisable and there is no chance of spotting game crossing the road, there is enough food and water everywhere so they aren’t forced to traipse down to the river.

Next week I will get to see plenty of this greenery on the 3000km round trip from Livingstone to Blantyre to collect the truck. The first 1500km will be by public bus – the joys of only stopping once on a 9 hour journey and then only for a matter of minutes, when the driver honks you have about 0.2 seconds to re-board or else!! If you are super- unlucky you get a driver who plays his favourite tape at full blast on repeat for the entire journey!!  It will be great to meet up with Douglas again and at least on the journey back we will have full control of toilet/snack stops!! I’ve promised to take Douglas to see the Victoria Falls this time, as when he was here in 2010 I was slightly uber-busy and he missed out!

The falls are always green because of the spray but at the moment all the rains mean that the water level is slowly rising. They are very spectacular at this time of year and not quite at their fullest so you can get quite close without getting soaked! The spray blows with the wind so sometimes you get a covering of fine waterdrops, but with temperatures in the 30’s everyday this is cooling and very pleasant.

Tourism at this time of year is very low, but in my opinion it’s a great time to visit. The rains are not debilitating. It generally rains for an hour or in the afternoon and before and after the skies are brilliant blue. It’s hot but not unbearably so as in October, the nights are warm and you can sit out, so not cool, like June and July. There are few other tourists so you can get good deals on hotels and on activities there are no crowds. The only downside is that it can be harder to spot game because of the greenery and the fact that they don’t have to travel to find scarce water. This saying I went to Chobe last month and saw some of the best game since I was in Africa. There was a whole herd of elephants in the water right by our boat and the youngsters were all playing, it was amazing sitting and watching them play-fight, just like human children!

Since I’ve been back in Livingstone I’ve visited most of our schools several times! It’s great to come back and be genuinely welcomed by the teachers and the pupils. I’ve spent quite a lot of time at the community project in Zweilopili. They have built new grass shelters and been able to put tarpaulin on the roof to keep the rains out, thanks to the generosity of some 2010 Book Bus volunteers. They have also constructed a toilet and are planning another classroom block. Mr Mwiya, who has recently retired as deputy head of Nakatindi, is an inspiration to everyone with his dedication of starting this project and funding much of it himself. At the moment he is trying hard to encourage girls who dropped out of school because of pregnancies to come and take free tuition classes so they can get back into education. (I've just noticed below - I've even started wearing yellow in my freetime!)

Going to Lubasi is always a highlight and I had a great afternoon the other week playing with the kids. They have completed the building of their chapel whilst I was away, so once a month now on Sundays they have their own service at the home. Last month they had a fundraising Zambian meal. The staff dressed up in costumes from different provinces, and prepared food from those areas. There were about 70 tourists and locals who all paid an entrance fee and the money is going towards the upkeep of the home. It was a fun afternoon with lots of singing and dancing and a chance to try the famous caterpillars that the Luvali people from the north western province enjoy eating! Its great to see that the home is using it’s initiate to raise money and not just relying on donors.

This season we will be including 2 new schools in the Book bus program both of which I have recently visited. One I discovered the first year I was here, but with the bus visiting would be difficult but now we have the truck I thought it was time to give it a go. It’s called Chileleko, which is Tonga for Blessings and the teachers and pupils are very excited about our impending visits. They still remembered me from my one  visit in July 2008!!

The other is Libuyu community school and again the bus couldn’t visit but now in 2011, here comes the truck! It’s always a challenge to begin at new schools because it takes time to get organised and to get teachers and pupils used to what we do, but it is rewarding when you can see the improvement in the kids week by week!

I can’t wait to get started…roll on April 30^th!!

Book Bus in Quito

The Book Bus is proving to be a big hit at schools in and around Quito. Our volunteer crews this week have included members of the South American Explorers' Club, the Peace Corps as well as our regular crew from Ecuador and the UK. The Bus will be guest of honour at the forthcoming launch of Quito's new Science and Humanity Museum. Children from our Quito schools have been working hard to produce a collection of artwork for display at the event. Masks have been a popular option whilst Peace Corps volunteer April produced a mini-theatrical event using puppets hand-made by the children.

All in all it's been a fun week with some excellent results. Keep it up crew!

Raise funds for the Book Bus climbing Mt Toubkal in Morocco

Do you fancy a challenge but don't have the time (or inclination) to scale Everest?

Then consider The Book Bus's charity trek to the summit of North Africa's highest mountain....you'll only have to take two days off work!

The Toubkal trek is an extended mountain walk that lasts 3 days. There will be full support from local staff: tents, backpacks and all expedition equipment will be carried on mules. You will be carrying a daypack whilst walking. Walking days involve 6 to 8 hours on the trail; climate, altitude and remoteness may play a part in the challenge.
Previous trekking experience is not essential but you must have a good level of walking fitness.

The details

22nd September - 25th September

This trek is presented at “cost” of £485.

Each person who joins the trek pledges to raise a minimum of £500 (there is no maximum!) to help fund the Book Buses. You may either pay your own trek cost and then raise £500 as a donation to Book Bus.
Or Charity Commission rules allow you to raise  £485 + £500 in sponsorship, so long as you make it clear to your donors that you are doing so..

For more information - Toubkal Charity Climb